With Kiefer Sutherland playing an ancient roman did anyone else expect them to use the 24 countdown clock when Vesuvius was ready to blow?
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“Pompeii” is the fictional tale of a slave turned gladiator whose love story with a young society lady in Pompeii is set against the true historical event of the eventual volcanic eruption that buried the city in ash for almost 2000 years. Kiefer Sutherland joins the “fun” as a self centered Roman senator set to mess up what seems to be a relationship covered in destiny… that is if it weren’t for that pesky volcano about to explode and turn everyone into ash statues for future generations to discover. And, by the way, explode it does.
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In fact, lets just get this out of the way first, for me, that was the best thing about the movie. The destruction animations of this giant volcano spewing rocks, lava, boulders, and ash in these grand explosions were absolutely fascinating. Fireballs raining from the skies, tidal waves rocking the harbor, earthquakes opening up the coliseum floor, shockwaves of heat and particles billowing through the city. I found myself engrossed in the science of it all. But you know what? I could have gotten that from a history channel recreation, and in fact at times I kind of wish I had been. I found myself wanting scientific facts, and graphs and charts, about the ground temperature and rate of increase, .or how the city was laid out and where people may have gone to try and hide. Which gives you an idea about how much I cared about the story and characters in this I suppose. I’ll give you a hint: not very much
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ok, so I get it, they tried to follow the titanic model right? Take a well known historical disaster and create a love story to go along with it. The difference here is… well… just about everything else. First, the acting isn’t very good. Kit Harington, who you may know as John Snow from Game of Thrones, is our lead and is so laconic as to not give any emotion away while on the other end of the spectrum Kiefer Sutherland is so over the top as the Roman Senator that it made Jack Bauer look easy going. Second, the story is completely underdeveloped. I guess we understand why our lead hates our villain. But it never really fully sells me on why our lady falls in love with him. Other than, maybe he’s good with horses? My worst thing though is this strange thing the movie does with the volcano itself, seemingly ending every scene by pulling back to sweeping music to show that indeed, yes, the volcano is still there ready to erupt. We get it already, There’s a Volcano. We got it when you named the movie Pompeii, so when it’s time to erupt feel free to bring it back into frame but until then, just go ahead and assume we know it’s still there. I’m not sure if it’s supposed to build suspense or maybe just offer some mountainous character development but either way it ended just being annoying.
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At the end of the day, Pompeii is cheesy, poorly acted excuse to watch a giant explosion send an ancient town to shambles. If only they had found a way to make its story as interesting as its glory I might have been able to go higher than this C-.
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